A welfare check led Michigan deputies to a filthy home where three children had been living for several years without outside contact, education or basic hygiene, authorities said.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office reported Feb. 16 that the children’s mother, 34, who was not identified to protect the identity of her children, had been arrested and booked into the county jail after the discovery. The children, ages 15, 13 and 12, survived on weekly deliveries of prepared food from her, but never saw her, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies got a call from the home’s landlord, saying the Pontiac woman hadn’t paid rent in several months and he was concerned something might have happened, the Facebook post said.

When they arrived, they found a stomach-turning scene. Garbage was piled high, the toilet was overflowing, feces littered the house, and mold had spread throughout, the sheriff said. A technician in a HAZMAT suit took stock of the house.

Two girls, 12 and 13, had locked themselves in the bathroom when deputies arrived but emerged when asked, according to the post. Their 15-year-old brother told deputies his mother left them in the house in either 2020 or 2021.

The mother had contact with the boy, “but it appeared she had not seen the girls in years,” the post said.

The three had dirty clothes, matted hair and toenails so long that walking was difficult. The girls slept on pizza boxes, while their brother slept on a mattress on the floor, the sheriff said. Neighbors told deputies they’d never seen the children outside but had spotted their mother dropping off food.

“It appeared the children were unfamiliar with how to use personal hygiene items or knew how to flush a toilet,” the post said.

They were taken to a local hospital and then placed in a relative’s custody.

In the post, Oakland Sheriff Michael Bouchard said he’d never seen a case of abandonment “as dire and prolonged” as this one.

“This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children. They have been deprived of any interaction with their mother and have not received an education for years,” Bouchard said.

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